I have no ideas about Q1. Q2 is similar to Castile but with the tinctures swapped. Q3 simply reflects the fact that Suances is a coastal town that once relied on its fisheries.

The monastery itself has no arms, nor indeed has the Comarca of Liébana. The nearest village is Potes, derived from the Latin "Pontes" (the bridges). The arms reflect the importance of the river crossing and also the 15th century Torre del Infantado. This explains why the tower is separate from the bridge rather than sitting on it as often seen in other Spanish municipal arms (Logroño for example).

I have to say that many of these Spanish municipal arms approved during the last 20-30 years show a singular lack of original thought. If there is an old bridge, include it; an old castle, better include that; a coastal town, better put in a boat. I have yet to discover whether there was a national policy at that time for every community that didn't already have one to have a coat of arms created for it. But if that was the case, was it the community itself who decided on the design or some authority that made recommendations?

Chris Green wrote:I have yet to discover whether there was a national policy at that time for every community that didn't already have one to have a coat of arms created for it. But if that was the case, was it the community itself who decided on the design or some authority that made recommendations?

Chris, I hadn't thought about it in this connection, but when Spain went to the present system of regional devolution, one of the powers delegated to the autonomous communities was control over civic heraldry. (This was the basis on which the Castile & Leon administration named the Marquess of La Floresta as its cronista.)

Because of this, I imagine that the quality and originality of the arms in this series depend on how the regional administration concerned has chosen to exercise its armorial powers and whether or not it has someone in charge who knows anything about heraldry.

The design - and especially the emblazonment! - of the civic arms of Logroño are especially nice! The writing on the bordure, while alien to most who are not Spanish or Latin American, is quite acceptable in Spain (witness similar writing on many of the arms in this thread) and very well rendered in this example.

The cross relates to that said to have been carried by King Pelayo (Pelagius) of Visigothic Asturias at the Battle of Covadonga in AD722, Curiously the cross as emblazoned in the arms of Caso, as in those of Oviedo, does not have the Greek alpha and omega hanging from the cross arms as in the arms of Asturias. The bull doesn't look particularly furious to me, simply rampant. Surely he should be head down, pawing the ground, perhaps with steam coming from his nostrils.

The finish is at Gijón, which the race passed through only last year, so these arms will come as no surprise to many:

Like Santander, which the Vuelta visited last year, the harbour at Avilés was protected by a great chain drawn across the harbour mouth. Sadly neither chain nor harbour survive, the latter drained and filled in during the 19th century. The arms of Solís are of course canting. As for the arms of Rodriguez de León, I cannot begin to guess. Two lions (for León), one helmeted, one crowned, apparently walking on water?!

The Alto de l'Angliru is one of the toughest and most criticised climbs in cycling. If it had a coat of arms it would be something like: Azure on a base vert a pile inverted argent goutté de sang. As it is the nearest municipality is Riosa, whose arms include the Asturian Cross of Victoria:

Today is the last day of the Vuelta. Will Chris Froome win? Yesterday Alberto Contador made a supreme effort to win the stage, the first by a Spaniard in this year's Vuelta. He retires after today so he and Spain can be proud of his many achievements: including Vuelta 1st 3 times, Tour de France 1st twice, Giro d'Italia 1st twice (not so proud of his ban for drugs 2010-12 which saw him stripped of a Tour de France and a Giro d'Italia win).

Contador was born at Pinto near Madrid, so there will be thousands of his home fans on the streets to cheer him on. Pinto's arms are very unusual. On a field of the Spanish gold and red a globe with a red dot in the centre showing the position of Pinto. How odd is that?!

Either the emblazonment or the blazon is wrong. Should the mill wheels not be sable? Or should the blazon say ... aceria de gules ...?

The race passes through Brunete, the dexter half of whose arms at first sight look to be charged with 13 bezants, They aren't. According to the blazon they are loaves of bread. 13 loaves of bread = a baker's dozen!

Chris Green wrote:The race sets off from Arroyomolinos whose arms indicate the importance of its water mills.

(snip)

Either the emblazonment or the blazon is wrong. Should the mill wheels not be sable? Or should the blazon say ... aceria de gules ...?

The town's official regulation on use of the arms quotes from the Madrid Community (autonomous administration) decree establishing the arms which specifies sable, so it would seem that the blazon is correct and the emblazonment wrong. Yet every representation of the arms in this very same regulation shows the wheels as red. In the section where the municipal council "translates" the official blazon into non-heraldic language, the color of every component of the shield except the wheels is specified in ordinary Spanish. So the plain language version of the sinister half of the shield says a la derecha, 7 ruedas dispuestas de dos en dos, excepto la última, centrada, sobre fondo dorado, or, in English "on the [viewer's] right, 7 wheels arranged two by two, except the last one centered, on a golden field."

Now presumably local readers would understand acería, the ordinary Spanish word for a steel mill, without explanation. But the most common meaning of sable in Spanish is "saber/sabre." Could it be that, when connected with the reference to a steel mill, non-heraldists have taken "ruedas de acería de sable" to refer to the waterwheels powering a mill to produce steel for swords? I can't think of any other reason why the people preparing the regulation would have omitted to explain that, in this case, sable should be interpreted in the alternative Spanish meaning, "black."

Chris Froome didn't win the last stage, but he was near enough to the winner to ensure that he won not only overall (Tunica gules), but also the points (tunica vert) and combined (tunica argent) classifications. He was born in Nairobi, whose arms are: